33. Kasten
The familiar rush of adrenaline sharpened my senses as I entered the room where my father waited. The walls were white panels with gold details, and the carpet was a rich royal blue. The king sat behind a desk, looking as smart and spotless as ever, dressed in white and gold with a red kerchief which reminded me of somebody getting their throat slit on the battlefield—somebody dying because of this man’s orders. His dark hair was slicked to one side and his mustache was oiled to points. His jacket that was always bedecked with meaningless medals was still hanging from a hook, too heavy with lies to be worn casually.
I bowed deeply to my father, who didn’t even look up to acknowledge it, then turned to study the other people in the room: my half brother, Prince Stirling, and my half sister, Princess Annabelle. Both stood by the window holding drinks. I bowed to them, and they returned nods. Stirling was dressed similarly to the king, only his kerchief was gold and frothed with ridiculous lace that rivaled Callum’s. He always liked attracting attention. Annabelle wore a huge sky blue gown with a slim waist and enormous skirts. Her blonde hair was tied back with a blue silk bow that was so big, it framed her face. I wondered if she struggled to breathe in those dresses like Sophie. If she was uncomfortable, it was impossible to tell from her blank smile as our eyes met. Both the prince and princess had the straight blonde hair of their mother, as did their brother who was currently too young for such parties. Only I shared the king’s hair color. I’m sure that annoyed him—a continuous reminder of his big mistake and the problem he couldn’t seem to deal with.
The king looked up from a letter he was reading. “Kasten, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised that you turned up instead of hiding away in Kasomere.”
I merely nodded in response, keeping my expression carefully blank and formal. I heard a faint high-pitched whine; it took me a moment to realize it wasn’t ringing in my ears from being alert and on edge, but rather a faint sound being picked up by my detector. That made no sense. Callum wasn’t wearing one and was rooms away, so he couldn’t be the source of the sound. There were no soulless here, of course, and besides, it was too faint a signal. I tried to put my curiosity to the side and focus on Father. I had to keep my wits.
“But I suppose it’s not just the war keeping you busy. Not now that you’ve suddenly decided to take a wife. Tell me, is she with child?”
I almost shifted with unease, but kept my feet rooted firmly to the ground. “No, Your Majesty.”
He pursed his lips and flicked his fingers. “Do tell me if and when she is. That is, if she can get pregnant. She had no success with her last husband, I heard. But you’re not one to shy away from risks, are you?”
I clenched my jaw and inclined my head.
He dropped his eyes back down to his desk. “I heard there were heavy losses in Whitehill.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. We barely won. Whitehill is not an easy fortress to take, especially with only two regiments.” I struggled to keep anger from my voice.
“I also hear that you caused extensive fire damage to the main tower.” The king arched an eyebrow. “Yet the enemy managed to take it without destroying anything. You know we’re in a war of attrition. You should be more careful. Our armies are not endless. It’s your duty as the general to limit our losses. You left that fort vulnerable until the tower can be rebuilt, which makes the enemy far more likely to take it again.”
I met his eyes, my heart thudding in rage. “Limiting loss of life is a duty I take very seriously, Your Majesty. If part of the garrison hadn’t been removed, it would have never fallen. And nobody would have died.”
The king met my gaze with one full of steel. “I would be careful what you insinuate, boy. Those soldiers were needed elsewhere. Our border is long, and the southern portion at least has better inland defenses should they break through such as Kasomere. I expect you to be capable enough to defend it.”
I clenched my jaw and said nothing. There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t make things worse, and we both knew it.
“After Lord Hans’s tragic death, you will be in charge of defending his lands as well until I find a suitable replacement.”
My resources would be stretched by that. “As you wish.”
After a strained silence, I blew out a breath. “Was there anything else you wanted to say, Your Majesty, other than to express your disappointment?”
He rubbed a finger below his mustache. “Since you were here, I thought I would mention to you early that I’ve added to our growing plans. The next campaign will be our biggest push yet and I wish to engage all our regiments at once. I’ll summon you back to Adenburg in two weeks to help us formalize our battle strategy. I want you here at the palace for a week. I’m sure that you came up with some tactics and proposals before you were interrupted by the Whitehill incident. Make sure your regiment is ready, I suspect you will need to do some recruitment to swell your ranks back to the thousand mark. Prince Stirling has requested to join us.” He nodded over my shoulder to his son. “I believe his ideas may help reduce our losses.”
I frowned. “So soon? We’re still recovering from injuries received in the last battle, and I need to replace almost five hundred soldiers. Over a thousand if you wish me to build Lord Hans’s regiment as well.” Normally campaigns were months apart, though taking back Whitehill hadn’t exactly been a fully planned attack.
The king eyed me with his perpetual look of disappointment. “You were only gone a week. I heard you were on death’s door, yet you appear to have recovered well enough to be attending parties. If you don’t have enough soldiers in training in Kasomere or in Lord Hans’s land, take fresh recruits from Adenburg. I will indeed expect a full two regiments from you.”
I gritted my teeth. As if I would let his spies into my ranks. I only ever recruited from Kasomere, and he knew this. But to find two thousand men…
The king sighed. “If this is too much for you, Kasten, I’ll give your job to somebody else.”
I swallowed my retort and bowed. More battles. More death. More time away from Sophie. “I’ll be here, Your Majesty. And I’ll bring my regiment back up to one thousand.” I cast a quick look at Prince Stirling, leaning against the wall behind me, sipping wine. He raised his glass to me, and I quickly returned my attention to the king. Stirling had never seen action and had a narrow view of the world. How could his ideas possibly be of use? Maybe it was just another way the king could give the credit to somebody other than me. He needed to make his choice of succession as clear as he could, after all.
The king hesitated as if deciding whether to say something. “I’ll be honest with you, Kasten. In the event of your death, I intend Stirling to take over your role. It’s best to be prepared for these things.”
I opened my mouth to object, but the king held up a hand to silence me. “Yes, yes, I know your wife has inheritance rights and she would be in charge of the troops of Kasomere.”
I frowned, unsettled that the king had clearly looked into that matter and read reports on my will.
“But Stirling would be in charge of our armies as a whole. I hope you will pass on as much knowledge as you can to him when we have our meetings. I would hate for it to be lost with you…should the worst happen.”
I shifted. Would the fighting ever end? Would my death stop anything?
The king returned his attention to the documents, leaving me to wait pointlessly to be dismissed. My gaze turned to the medals hanging from his jacket, but they made my anger simmer too close to the surface, so I looked back at the king’s desk. I’d always resigned myself to the reckless campaigns, seeing them as inevitable. But now, the desire to resist stirred within me. I wanted to fight back. I suspected it was Sophie’s doing. Our relationship was hard enough as it was, and these endless separations weren’t going to help. Though next time I was away, I would do more to defend her against her father and brother.
The king put down his pen and stood, his attention now on Annabelle. “Come now, my dear, today is all about you. Let’s find some pleasant conversation.”
I turned to her, curious. I hadn’t been aware that today had any particular focus. Was the king about to announce something about her marriage prospects since she was of age? Now that I looked carefully, I could see a nervousness in the movement of her hands as the king approached.
I looked away. It wasn’t any of my business.
The king didn’t dismiss me, he simply walked out with the princess on his arm. I stood rigidly in the room, waiting for my heartbeat to slow. My eyes swept over the king’s desk and landed on a small bronze instrument being used as a paperweight. I shifted my position and saw the edge of a hare embossed on the side.
My heart lurched and my eyes stayed focused on the kryalcomy device. Why did the king have one of Lord Lyrason’s illegal devices? Had somebody given it to him as evidence? Or did he know what Lord Lyrason was up to and was complicit in the scheme? Either way, it affected our plans. I had hoped that once we had enough evidence, we could appeal to the king and the Maegistrium to arrest Lord Lyrason. But if the king already had evidence from somebody else and had chosen to do nothing… This would make things much more complicated. And if Lord Lyrason somehow had the king in his pocket, how was there any chance for us to put an end to the awful practices that were taking place?
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to stop myself from overreacting. It could be a simple present from Lord Lyrason that the king viewed as little more than a toy. Or something that had been discovered, and the king had no idea what it was. He wouldn’t necessarily have the information to connect the hare to Lord Lyrason. Or maybe it was a spying device so Lord Lyrason could gain more information from the king’s meetings.
I didn’t know what it was, so I shouldn’t speculate too far. There was a big difference between having a small device and condoning the creation of halfsouls.
Could that be the source of the high-pitched whine?
My fingers itched to steal the instrument for Callum to study, but I knew that would be a very, very bad idea.
Another thought struck me. What if they were working together and this was why the king wanted to increase my time away from Kasomere, distracted by battle plans, recruitment, and the war? What if it was all to stop me from investigating Lord Lyrason?
I rubbed my temple. What was I doing? I had enough on my plate already. If I left Lord Lyrason alone, especially if there was any chance the king had sided with him, life would be so much easier for me. I could focus on Sophie and keeping my people safe and my role in the campaign. They were my responsibility, not Lord Lyrason’s illegal activity.
But my mind filled with images. The woman screaming as she died, strapped down to the bed. Countless other victims I’d found on the streets, infecting and destroying others. What would I be if I let that pass and did nothing?
But what would I be if I failed to keep my own people safe, my own wife, just because I was sticking my nose elsewhere? I thought of Sophie smiling as she danced. In that moment, my entire world had condensed to only her. I already hated how much danger I was placing her in.
I sighed and glanced at Prince Stirling who hadn’t moved. He leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets and one ankle crossed over the other.
Enough time had passed since the king left, and I walked to the door.
The prince’s deep voice cut through the air behind me. “Shouldn’t you bow and ask to be excused?”
I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry. I forgot you were even there.”
The prince’s pride made him bristle, and he pushed away from the wall to stand straight. I hid the small trickle of satisfaction at how easy it was to irritate him.
His expression darkened. “Bow, Kasten, and ask to be excused.”
I ground my teeth. I had followed the king’s suicidal orders, but that didn’t mean I was about to let Stirling believe I was a pushover or he would never stop tormenting me. I was his biggest threat to the crown, after all, being his elder brother.
I met his gaze and tilted my chin up ever so slightly. His eyes flared in annoyance. I strode to him with quick, deliberate steps until I loomed over him, close enough for my position to be a threat. Fear replaced the annoyance in his eyes. Neither of us were armed, but there was no doubt who would win in a fight, even without knowing about my devices.
Stirling leaned back and licked his lips. Just as he was about to crack, I bowed my head to him. “Excuse me, Your Highness.”
I didn’t wait for his reply but turned sharply on my heel and strode out of the room before he could think of any other way to assert himself. As the door clicked behind me, my chest loosened, and I could breathe again.
I closed my eyes. I hated it here, hated everything about this place. There hadn’t been a day of my life that I hadn’t wished I wasn’t related to these people.
Duke James’s words echoed in my mind. Lick the hand that strikes you, for whether you snap and bite or wag your tail and obediently go, the outcome will be the same. There’s no future for you, Kasten.
I hated myself. Hated that I was the king’s loyal dog who licked his hand while he got thousands of people killed trying to get rid of me.
There’s no future for you, Kasten.
I knew that. I had always known that. But why did those words hurt differently than before? Speaking to my father was harder than it had been previously. For the first time, I wanted to survive.
Wanted it with every fiber of my being.
I clenched my fists and wished I could punch something. Preferably Duke James’s face.
From down the corridor, music swelled. I shook my head to clear it. It would be dinnertime soon. I should find Sophie.
I turned the corner and dived back when I saw the back profiles of the queen walking arm in arm with Lord Lyrason. Two people I really didn’t want to talk to. But why was he with the queen? What was he up to now?
No. Now was not the time to get distracted further. Sophie. I had to find Sophie.
As I left the corridor, a servant passed me a note without speaking. What now? I had half a mind to just toss it away.
I broke the plain seal and read the short message.
‘Kasten, I have a lot of respect for you. But if you continue to interfere, I will have to kill you, your wife, and your friend. Consider your next moves carefully.’
I could only assume it was from Lord Lyrason. It was like he could read my mind. I shivered, crumpled up the note, and found a fire to toss it in.